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Well, I got it but not sure I want it. Not really a case of “Great, you're in” but “Same time next week then”. I think bands should be a bit more open about where their development is up to. What came across in their ad as a quite experienced project was far closer to startup, and for some songs I appeared better prepared than them. Worse, the range of a new vocalist meant a lot of great stuff in the original set list was gone, replaced with predictable pub band bilge. On the plus side 1) I've suggested a handful of more contemporary pop/post-punk songs and, encouragingly, the guitarist was actually familiar with some of them, and 2) the rehearsal room is 5 minutes away from home.

Should have mentioned in the OP it's a covers band - there were only 2 songs I hadn't heard before. TBH I didn't mind the workload; far heavier than anything I've done before but a damn good exercise/challenge.

Have just spent a week learning – but far from mastering – 20 new (to me) songs for audition tonight. Thankfully most are thump-alongs, but there are a couple of trickier ones and I suppose the hardest thing is remembering arrangements, especially because the audio cues I hear on original recordings won't be anything like what I get at audition. Although the set list was sent a week ago my rehearsal time is governed by work; mercifully I work from home, but all in I'm guessing I've been able to devote about 10 hours to it. So different from the old band where our typical introduction of ONE new song gave each of us about a month before we first rehearsed it together. 20 in one week is quite a stretch. Anyone else had a similar monster task and how much fear factor came into play?

I was there too Liam! Absolutely love this band - went along with my daughter (plus her best friend) and my mum, 3 generations at the same gig. And we had post game passes for pizza and selfies. Unforgettable night, topped off with Seb's guitar pick landing at my feet (we were on the balcony) which is now my daughter's prize possession.

They do exist. After buying tickets to see Simple Plan in Manchester I wanted to upgrade to VIP tickets so my daughter and her friend could meet the band, but the tickets site wasn’t giving me the right links. Via Twitter, the band’s drummer gave me all the info I needed. That personal touch is great – is it rare? Have you had beyond-the-call-of-duty help from the ‘stars’?

Always new music for me, and the great thing about online sources (YouTube for me) is how much you can be led to discover. When I say ‘new’… It was a PS3 game that got me into pop/post-punk in 2008 so I was a very late latcher-on to the genre. I’d put Simple Plan and Every Avenue as my top listening choices, but the latter went into hiatus in 2012! Still, thanks to YT’s recommendations I’m coming across new stuff all the time, and I’m just as enthusiastic about it if it’s from 2016 or 2000. Which actually makes me glad to not be in a covers band any more. So many bands have such huge crossover of predictable old stuff I find it depressing. It’s like music is moving on but the covers bands refuse to.

A punishment many of us have to endure, Maude: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhB38P9gA2E

A few years ago I had great fun playing 4ever 2gether by ABC while trying to do lead vocal. Not saying I came anywhere close to nailing it but really enjoyed the challenge of swingbeat-slap.

Was just thinking about songs you don’t often find in sets, but wanted to avoid real obscurities. Off the top of my head came Cuddly Toy by Roachford. It got to #4 in the charts and it’s a terrific uptempo song – a doddle to play, too. So if you’re working out a set and have to make the choice between House of the Rising Sun and Cuddly Toy, why would you choose the former and not the latter? This is what I’m getting at – many covers bands seem to get locked into playing what others play in the belief that it works [i]only [/i]because other bands play it.

Incidentally, mentioned above was Tainted Love. The version we did, using real drums/bass, was patently a compromise and a case of ‘our own take’ – personally I hated it but it usually went down well.

Hmm. “Other peoples’ music”. I agree up to a point. Isn’t the main thing, by and large, the vocals – the majority of people wanting to be able to sing along? The niceties of what the rhythm section and other instruments are doing are lost on most punters. You can keep the overall feel (mostly) but you can also experiment.

But that’s a slippery slope, discreet. Given the enormous amount of crossover between covers bands, if we all tried to be absolutely faithful wouldn’t we all just end up sounding the same as each other?

[quote name='squire5' timestamp='1451504807' post='2941098'] You're there to please a crowd,not yourself. [/quote] True, but isn't that about how you play rather than what you play? At the end of one of our gigs someone told us it was just like listening to the originals. Meant as a compliment I’m sure, but a disaster as far as I was concerned. Why not just stay at home and listen to the originals, or at least have a DJ instead? You have to make songs your own – maybe – but the important thing is the performance, the show. If you can nail that, the choice of material isn’t quite as crucial and you can almost certainly get away with throwing in less mainstream numbers.

“That will be good enough”. Yeah – that frustrated me. Too often we’d rehearse something and we all knew it didn’t sound as it should, but it was as if everyone was too embarrassed to say “The bass doesn’t work” or “Keyboard timing is out” or whatever. Natural human instinct to fear possible confrontation, but if you’re aiming for top quality product you have to tackle it. We didn’t.

Incidentally I should point out that I’d never join a band and then refuse to play certain numbers. For me the first step is seeing the set list, way before audition. That gives me a feel for their typical material – not just what’s there, but the potential likelihood of adding no-no songs later.

The comment from Mykesbass about ‘rocking it up’ reminds of the situation (not really related to this thread) in my last band. To broaden the set beyond funk, disco etc we decided to bring in a couple of more rock-based songs, and the guitarist and I remembered that way back in the late 1980s we introduced The Power of Love (Huey Lewis) to a band we had in Birmingham. It always went down well, in part because we upped the tempo a little. So we brought it in. The drummer was adamant about us having to play it at the original tempo because it was ‘the only way’, which was ironic, as his tempo setting for the rest of our live numbers ranged unpredictably from manic to dirge.

Is immediacy another consideration? Many songs, regarded as classics, gradually reveal their quality over repeated listening. It’s a bit like a Monty Python sketch which doesn’t seem at all funny first time round, but you keep watching/listening and notice the subtleties and cleverness. The best songs tend to do that, to gradually draw you in. On the other hand, those which knock your socks off when you first hear them start to fall down your favourites list after a while. It’s like they’ve given everything they have in one hit. To me, that’s an important consideration when choosing songs to play live; you only get one shot at wowing the audience. There are plenty of songs out there – unknown to the majority – which have that effect. I just wish more bands were willing to experiment. After all, every song ever written, successful or not, started out as unknown to everyone.

Seems like Summer of 69 is close to universally unpopular! Funny – in all honesty it’s not one I’d object to. If nothing else, it’s lively when performed right. The main problem with the two I quoted is that they’re slow to the point of turgid, really can’t see their entertainment value as live offerings. It raises an interesting point though. So many bands do ‘classic rock’ (and other) covers, and you read their set lists and see a huge crossover of material, including many songs – Summer of 69 a case in point – that we seem to hate. Yet, as mentioned above, there are countless thousands of great tunes that never get a look in. A friend suggested that, over the years, we’ve unwittingly created a tried & tested formula that basically starts with one band doing one cover version very well, so everyone else thinks it’s a must-have in the set. As a result, IMHO covers bands haven’t really evolved in the way they could.

Given the prospect of auditioning for a covers band, one of the first steps is getting a set list. Do you have certain songs – ones which seem to appear across most/several bands – that make you say “Thanks but no thanks”? For me, Comfortably Numb and House of the Rising Sun are instant off-putters.

Were it not for MK I wouldn’t have taken up bass, end of. And I can’t even play slap, not properly anyway, but he was the first person to bring bass all the way to the front as a percussive, driving instrument. For me, the percussiveness (and inherent need for spot-on timing) was far more important than the rest of it, and it still influences me now even when I’m playing simple one-note phrases. One Man demonstrated his ability to show off a more ‘humans can do this’ style and I loved that departure. Yeah, there were a couple of duff tracks – including the title track – but mostly it showed his exceptional songwriting. Just wish I could get an original recording (I lost the CD) of Love Wars; I can only find a live version on YouTube.

Suppose it also depends on your preferred gauge. I’ve always gone for 40-95 or 40-105 if the lighter ones aren’t in stock, so from the outset I’m after good twang. Just moved from Rotosound to an Ernie Ball set (never tried them before) and they seem OK after 4 or 5 hours of practice, although the A string seems to have a far livelier tone than the other three. Thankfully I’m bandless so the expense is rare. Just out of interest re boiling strings; I was once told you could only do it once as it weakened the strings – is that an old wives’ tale?

Went to see Fall Out Boy at MEN Arena a few months ago - stonking gig. Also saw All Time Low at Wembley Arena in April.

[quote name='toneknob' timestamp='1446573531' post='2900506'] my Prog chums The Far Meadow, followed by the brilliant A Formal Horse, at my local The Bedford in Balham, last Sunday. Look them on facebook to see my photos from the event! next recently Steve Hackett, Snarky Puppy, Zappa Plays Zappa, Steven Wilson. coming soon: Jaga Jazzist, Dave Matthews Band. [/quote] Ha! My crossword-setting chum Paul Bringloe is the Far Meadow's skins basher.

I'll take it back to the shop for them to check the screws, but I doubt the neck has twisted. We're talking very fine margins obviously, but it looks straight. As for the bridge, just taken a snap to show how low the G bridge is sitting but I can't remember how to upload here. Tried drag/drop but got a 'post_too_short' message, whatever that means.

Lovely as this instrument sounds, build quality is shocking. First the damaged wood surface, then loose pots (despite these never being used), now a bridge that refuses to stay the way it’s been set up. Less than a week after I got the shop to do it – I haven’t got an allen key that fits – the G has dropped so much there’s fret buzz all the way up from the octave mark; not so clever on the D either. I’m guessing it can only be that the allen screws can’t be tightened enough, so they constantly slacken off and drop the bridge. Can anyone recommend a better alternative bridge that’s not too costly?